Refrigerator



c. STEENSTR'UP REFRIGERATOR Filed March 30, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l I'nventm" Christian Steenstv qn His Attorney.

- ators provided with temperature. Acco messed Magic, 1944 nnrmcmnon Christian steen'strnp, Bcheneo N. Y., assignorto General ofN'ewYol-k Electric Company;

a corporation AppllcatlonMarch 30,1940. sens: st. 326,919 8-Qlaims. (CI. 62-99) My invention relates to refrigerators, and particularly to refrigerators of the typein which" 8- compartment is 'gooled by a cooling ele ranged in the upper portion thereof in produce a. natural circulation .of air.

Itis a common refrigerating ma partments cooled .upper, portion of the compartments so that the ,natural tendency of cold air to circulate down ward may be employed-to maintain a circulation of air throughout the compartment to be cooled. Thearrangement' of the cooling unit in the top of the compartment tends to cool the upper portion of the inner cabinet walls or linernear the evaporator and'to maintain that portion at a lower temperature than other portions thereof- This is particularly true iii-mechanical refriger-,

motor-compressor units arranged directlybelow the compartment to, be cooled, since a. portion of the heat fromthe refrigerating machine passes upwardly through the insulation in the bottom wall of the cabinet. It,

chines with food storage com compartment. These containers are adapted to prevent any substantial dehydration of the articles contained therein: When such containers are so placed, it -may happen that the reduced circulation of air is suflicient to allow a substan-' tial rise in temperature of the b'o'ttom"wall of the compartment such that the articles iii the'closed container are not maintained ata sufficiently low 8 3. it is an object of my invention to provide a refrigerator including 'a food compartment andan improved arrangement ling of the lower portion.

for insuring adequate coo of the compartment.

Further objects and advantages of my inven-- practice to construct household- .,door ii, The compartment i by evaporators arranged in the.

tion of a prima plementary cooling system sometimes becomes desirable-to prevent uneven tion'will become apparent as the following description proceeds, N which characterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claim and forming a part of this specification.

For a betterunderstanding of my invention,

- reference maybe had to the accompanying drawperspective view of a ings in which Fig. l is a houshold refrigerator embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional side. elevation view, of a portionof the refrigerator she is a sectional side elevation view ,of a modifies tion of the invention shown in Fig. -l; and Fig. 4

wninFig.1;Fig.3'

and thefeatures of ncvelty s annexed to,

- is a front elevatio I compartment for Referring now to the drawings, in Fig. l I have shown a refrigerator having a thermally insulated cabinet l0 and a food storage compartment ii to .which access may be g I isarrangedto becooled mainly by a cooling in one portion or .,'regiono preferably in the upper portion thereof, and constituting-the evaporator or heat absorbing porof the secondary type is provided and includes a cooling portion I con-- structed and arranged for'cooling another portion or region of the compartment, as the lower por- I tion thereof,.and a, condenser portion ii in the vicinity of the evaporatorv it, the portions being joined by conduits l6. Inorder tcvary the effect, or heat exchange, of the evaporator IS on the condensing portion of the secondary system, I have provided means for varying the distance between the evaporator and the condensing portion, as hereinafter described.

The evaporator erant circuit of a refrigerating machine including amotor-compres'sor unit arranged in ama- .chinery compartment within the cabinet in below the compartment l I. compartment may be Ilia. The motor compressorunit has been omit- .ted from the drawings 'for purposes of clarity. Refrigerant is supplied to the evaporator l3 through a liquid line H and float chamber Ila and vaporized refrigerant is returned to the motorcompressor unit through suction line i8.- During the operation of the refrigerating machine, the air at the top of the compartment ii is'cooled by the evaporatorii and circulated downwardly, the warmer air in the lower portion of the cabinet rising to take its place, the "circulating air absorbing heat from the articles within the cabinet.

As shown in Fig. 2, the ca outer metal casing i8 and a other suitable and bottom wit .The space between the casing I9 and liner 20 is filled with heat insulating material the transfer-of heat to the food Since the evaporator imity to, an upper tends to maintain perature than the refrigerator, it is closed containers a liner 20 of metal or compartment. I3 is arranged in close proxside wall of the liner 20, it

bottom wall. In a household frequently desirable to place djacent the bottom of the food maintaining high relative humidity thereinto prevent dehydration of certain foods such as vegetables. In Fig.1, I have shown a partition 22 supported by a frame 23, the frame 1 2,349,12 1- ENT mm, 4.

n viewof the modificationained-by opening a element 'lldisposed f the compartment,

ry refrigeration system. A sup- I3 is connected in the refrig- 4 Access to the machinery had by removing a panel 7 binet I0 includes anaterial forming the sides and top 11s.0f ,the food compartment H.

2| t'ominimize that portion at a lower tem- A being provided with depending flanges having inturnedi portions for supporting a food storage receptacle, not shown. The frame 23 is, prefer ably spaced from the liner as by supporting brackets 230. with such an arrangement it is obvious that therewill be a limited circulation of .-air around the receptacle or container and there is, therefore, less cooling capacity available to absorb heat entering the food compartment through the bottomwall thereof. It is, therefore, desirable to provide some arrangement for lowering the temperature of the lower portion ofthe liner 20. I have found that the additional cooling required may be obtained efiectively by providing a container partially filled with a liquid vaporizable at the temperatures prevailing at the bottom of the food compartment and including a liquid vaporizing portion secured in good heat exchange relation with the bottom of the liner and a second portion for condensing the vapor arranged in good heat exchange with theevaporator.

In the embodiment illustrated I provide a closed conduit it, the cross-section of which is flat on one side so that it may be secured in good heat exchange relation with the liner 20, as shown in Fig. 2. The conduit is provided with a plurality of -t It forming a cooling portion secured to the bottom side and back walls of the-liner 29 and a plurality of. turns it forming a condensing portion adjacent the upper portion of the liner near the evaporator it. The container or conduit I8 is partially filled with a vaporizable liquid, (not shown) so that the turns it are maintained .flooded therewith. During the operation of the reirigerating'machine when the bottom wall of the evaporator iswarmer than the upper portion thereof, liquid in the turns it will be vaporized and the vapor will rise through the upright portionsof the conduit it and circulate in the turns it where it will be cooled by the heat exchange with the evaporator l8 and will be liquefied, the liquid returning to the lower portion of the conduit. It is, therefore, evident that heat is car ried away by the vapor flowing from the bottom portion of the conduit and that the cooled liquid returned thus tends to supplement the cooling of the lower portions of the liner. This arrangement eficctively prevents undue heating of articles such as a container disposed adjacent the bottom wall or the food compartment.

The above-described arrangement for providing and equalizing or supplementing the cooling ment with the brackets 24. As shown in Fig. 2,

the liquid and suction lines l1 and II, respec tively, are provided with flexible conduit portions F2! and 21, respectively, as coiled copper tubing.

j change betweenthe evaporator and the condena-.

effect in the lower portion or the refrigerator compartment isnot part of my-invention but is described and claimed in application Serial No. 302,388 of Leonard W. Achison, filed November 1,1939, and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

I have providedmeans for varying the amount of heat exchange between the condensing portion it and the evaporator it or the relative eifeet produced on the condensing portion by the evaporator or cooling element. This is accom plished by varying the distance between the evaporator i8 and the condensing portion i8.

In the form of my inventionillustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, I have provided an arrangement for adjustably moving the evaporator ill with respect to the condensing portion it of the secondary system. I have provided a pair of opposed bracket members 26 secured to the topof the liner 2% and serving as tracks upon which the evaporator it may slide, the evaporator it being provided with outwardly; directed flanges it for engagefor example. In this form of my invention, the condensing portion II is aflixed to the liner 2|, opposite the rear portion of the evaporator If and located in the insulation space between the outer casing l8 and the liner 20. The evaporator I3 is preferably closed at the rear by a metal plate in order to enhance the heat exing portion. In order to cause the evaporator to be moved along the tracks 24 I have provided an adjusting knob 28 having a rod .29 attached thereto. the assembly being supported from the top wall of theJlner 20in any suitable manner as-by a substantially U-shaped bracket 30. The end of the rod or stem 28 opposite the knob end is enlarged and threaded, as indicated by the numeral 33 in Fig. 2, the threaded portion being arrangedfor operative engagement with a suitable threaded opening in an enlarged portion Ha evaporator. It will be apparent that to move the evaporator toward the condensing portion IS, the knob 28 will be turned in one direction whereas to increase the distance and thereby minimize the heat exchange between the evaporator and condensing portion the knob will be turned in the opposite direction.

In the form of my invention disclosed in Figs. 3 and 4, the adjustment is obtained by moving manually the condenser portion withrespect to the evaporator, the evaporator being secured in' any suitable manner to the top wall of the liner it. As best shown in Fig. 3, the condensing portion it is secured to the outer surface of a plate 6 of suitable material, preferably of relatively good heat conducting characteristics, the plate being pivotally supported adjacent the wall of the evaporator, as by means of a pivotal con motion 32 to the rear edge of the evaporator itself. The adjusting member, including knob 28, is supported as previously described. The previously described cross member 3| is omitted and in its place the threaded portion 33 threadingly engages a suitable connecting link 34. A second connecting link 35 preferably pivotally attached at'each end thereof joins the member or link 34 and the plate 36. Relatively flexible connections 8'! and 38, as looped copper tubing for example, join the condensing portion l5 and the conduits l8.

As indicated in Fig. 4, I have provided indie cating means 39 on the knob 28 and reference indicia 40 on the front face of the bracket 30 so that the user may be apprised of the relative positions ofthe evaporator and condensing portion and, accordingly, the degree of the cooling eifect established by the cooling portion II.

The prlnciplesofmy invention are equally appiicablewherever supplementary cooling may be desired. The need for such cooling may be,

caused in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1 wherein a partition restricts the circulation of air.

find application even though circulation is not restricted in order to permit installation of an evaporator I! of relatively small capacity, the cooling effect. thereof being supplemented ata to be limited to the particular construction shown and described, and I intend in the accompanying claims to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having a food storage compartment, a primary refrigerating system including a cooling element located in one region of said compartment, a secondary refrigerating system comprising a cooling portion constructed and arranged for cooling another region of said compartment and a said cooling element being arranged for relative movement'therebetween for varying the distance between said evaporator and said condensing portion to change the relative efiect produced thereon by said cooling element, and manually operable-means for adjustably moving said condensing portion with respect to said cooling element for changing the relative effect produced thereon by said cooling element.

5. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having a food storage compartment, a primary refrigerating system including a cooling element located in one region of said compartment, a secondary refrigeratingsystem comprising a cooling portion constructed and arranged for cooling another region of said compartment and a condensing condensing portion located in the vicinity of said cooling element, said condensing portion and said cooling element being arranged for relative movement therebetween for varying the distance between said cooling element and said condensing portion to change the relative efiect produced thereon'by said cooling element.

2. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having a food storage compartment, a primary refrigerating system including a cooling element located in one region of said compartment, a secondary refrigerating system comprising a cooling portion constructed and arranged for cooling another region of said compartment and a condensing portion located in the vicinity of'said cooling element, said condensing portion and said cooling element being arranged for relative movement therebetween, and manually operable means for varying the distance between said cooling element and said condensing portion to change the relative efiect produced on said condensing portion by said cooling element.

3. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having a food storage compartment, a primary refrigerating system including a cooling element located in one region of said compartment, a secondary refrigerating system comprising a cooling portion constructed and arranged for cooling another region of said compartment and a condensing portion located in the vicinity of said cooling element, said condensing portion and said cooling element being arranged for relative movement therebetween for varying the distance between said cooling element and said condensing portion to change the relative effect produced thereon by said cooling element, and means for indicating the relativ positions ofsaid cooling element and said condensing portion.

. 4. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having a food storage compartment, a primary. refrigerating system includinga cooling element located in one region of said compartment, a secondary refrigerating system comprisin a coolin portion constructed and arranged for coolinganother region of said compartment and a condensing portion v cooling element, said condensing portion and located in the vicinity of said.

portion located in the vicinity of said cooling element, said condensing portion and said cooling element being arranged for relative movement therebetween for varying the distance between said evaporator and said condensing portion to change the relative effect produced thereon by said cooling element, and means for adjustably moving said cooling element with respect to said condensing portion to change the relative eflect produced on said condensing portion by said evaporator.

6. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having a food storage compartment, said compartment being provided with a metal liner, a primary refrigerating system including a cooling element located in said compartment,. said cooling -ele-- ment having a plurality of walls defining a region of relatively low temperature, a secondary refrigerating system comprising 'a cooling por-. tion in thermal contact with a portion of said lining and a condensing portion in the vicinity of said cooling element, a plate of heat conductive material pivotally supported adjacent a wall of said cooling element, said condensing portion being supported by said plate, and means for adjustably moving said plate and said condensing portion with respect to said cooling element for changing the relative effect produced on said' condensing portion by said cooling element.

7. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having a food storage compartment, a primary refrigerating system including a cooling element located in one region of said compartment, a secondary refrigerating system comprising a cooling portion constructed and arranged for cooling another region of said compartment, and a condensing portion located in the vicinity of said cooling element, said condensing portion and said element being arranged for relative movement therebetween, and manually operable means for causingsuch movement to change the relative effect produced on said condensing portion by said cooling element.

8. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having a food storage compartment, a primary refrigerating system including a cooling element located in one region of said compartment, a secondary refrigerating system comprising a cooling portion constructed and arranged for cooling another region of said compartment and a con densing portion located in the vicinity of said cooling element, said condensing portion and said cooling system being arranged for relative movement therebetween for regulating the heat transfer between said systems.

CHRISTIAN B'IWBTRUP. 

